The Struggle to House Cambridge's 'Crammer' Students Continues

Posted
5th January 2016 at 12:12pm
by Ross Jones-Morris in Development

After the issue of student accommodation and 'crammers' emergied in Cambridge at the end of last year, one development has failed in its bid to house the city's newest brand of students.

So called 'crammer colleges' have been springing up around the city for a while now, offering intensive training for GCSEs and A-Levels to those willing to pay . But housing these potentially high-spending students is becoming an issue in the city, and one that many traditional student accommodation blocks (understandably) want to help alleviate.

One such developer, Beechwood Estates, appealed to the council to remove a planning condition on their Mill Road building, which stipulates the property can only house students of Anglia Ruskin University. However, this week the appeal has only resulted in the condition extending to students at the University of Cambridge, with control of parking in the area the council's main concern.

Planning inspector Cullum Parker said of the decision, "Whilst the appeal site is outside of a controlled parking zone, there was very limited on street parking availability, with a lack of available spaces and double yellow lines. I am reinforced in this view by the objections raised by neighbours, which include concerns over local parking pressures."

The parking issues of crammer students are a concern for the council because the two main universities in the city have policies restricting their students' use of cars in the city. Parker went on to say, "There is no evidence before me which demonstrates that other, unspecified, educational establishments have such arrangements in place which would control students bringing cars into the city,"